Lawrence Soper: Kosovo sends accused ex-priest back to UK

BBC News
August 21, 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37151086

Lawrence Soper was arrested at Luton Airport

A former Roman Catholic priest accused of historical sex offences has been returned to the UK from Kosovo after a five-year police hunt.

Lawrence Soper, 72, was officially arrested as he arrived at Luton Airport on Sunday on suspicion of nine charges of sexual offences allegedly committed over a period from 1972 to 1986.

Mr Soper had been detained in May under a European Arrest Warrant in Kosovo.

He is due to appear at Ealing Magistrates' Court later.

Mr Soper was arrested in 2010 and bailed, but failed to return to a London police station in March 2011.

A European Arrest Warrant was issued for him in 2012.

He is accused of committing offences at St Benedict's School in Ealing, west London, where he taught in the 1970s and 1980s.

Four of the charges, including buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault, relate to a single alleged victim and date from 1972 to 1976.

The boy was aged under 14 when Mr Soper carried out an act of gross indecency against him, it is alleged.

Two charges of indecent assault relate to a second boy aged under 16 alleged to have occurred between 1979 and 1984.

Soper faces charges of indecent assault against two further boys under 16, alleged to have taken place between 1979 and 1984.

A fifth boy aged under 16 was assaulted on a day between 1982 and 1986, it is alleged.

After teaching at St Benedict's, Mr Soper became abbot of Ealing Abbey, which had founded the school and supplied monks to teach there.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police' s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command had appealed for help in tracing Mr Soper.